Trump threatens 'a lot' of firings as shutdown deadline nears

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump threatened mass firings of federal workers as the U.S. hurtles toward a shutdown with Democrats and Republicans at an impasse over funding the government.

“We may do a lot and that’s only because of the Democrats,” Trump said in response to a question about the number of government employees who could be dismissed during a shutdown. The White House last week directed agencies to draw up plans for widespread firings if the government closed down. So far, no agencies have explicitly called for terminations in their shutdown plans.

With just hours to go until a midnight deadline, the deadlock over spending threatens to paralyze many U.S. government operations for the first time in nearly seven years, causing the suspension of services for Americans and paychecks for federal workers. As many as 750,000 federal workers could be temporarily furloughed, even if Trump doesn’t proceed with permanent dismissals, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated.

Political fallout could be widespread for both Trump and Democrats ahead of next year’s critical midterm elections, and leaders of both parties focused their public comments on blaming the other.

“They want to try to bully us — they are not going to succeed — into taking their partisan bill,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday. “That’s why we are heading into a shutdown.”

Democrats “are taking a risk by having a shutdown,” Trump said at a mid-day Oval Office event. “We’re not shutting it down. We don’t want to shut it down because we have the greatest period of time.”

Asked about chances of a shutdown, he responded, “Nothing is inevitable, but I would say it’s probably likely.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, similarly predicted that a shutdown is imminent.

“I’m an optimist, but I’m a little skeptical this morning,” he told CNBC Tuesday.

Although last-minute spending deals have averted several other threatened shutdowns in recent years, the stakes are especially high now, with the White House threatening to fire employees rather than furlough them, and Democratic leaders under intense pressure from progressives in the party to stand up to Trump.

Stocks fluctuated Tuesday morning with the prospect of a shutdown stoking concerns about how long it’ll go on and what impact the possibly delayed release of key economic data will have on the Federal Reserve’s upcoming interest-rate decisions.

Johnson accused Democrats of playing politics with their effort to renew health-care tax credits, saying it doesn’t have to be resolved until the end of the year when the tax credits expire.

“Open the government and then we’ll have all the discussions,” he said. “But right now that is a red herring.”

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused Republicans of being unwilling to participate in bipartisan negotiations, telling CNBC Tuesday that his party refuses to be a part of “a my-way-or-the-highway” approach.

Republicans in recent days have repeated the phrase “Schumer shutdown” in an attempt to pin the blame on their Democratic opponent.

“Chuck Schumer needs a Schumer shutdown and I think that’s what we’re probably careening toward,” Senate Republican Leader John Thune told CNBC on Tuesday.

Deep divide

Lawmakers appeared no closer to a deal after a Monday meeting at the White House only served to underscore their deep divide. Democrats have sought an extension of health-care subsidies and a reversal of Medicaid funding cuts that were part of Trump’s signature tax legislation enacted earlier this year. Republicans are insisting on what they call a clean continuing resolution — without an array of controversial policy measures — that would extend government funding until Nov. 21.

Thune told reporters the Democrats’ push amounted to a “hostage taking.” While there is an opportunity to discuss potential health-care premium tax credit changes with Democrats, Thune said, “we can’t even have that discussion until we keep the government open.”

Until then, Thune said the Senate will take repeated votes on a short-term spending bill to reopen the government.

Senator John Barrasso, a member of Senate Republican leadership, said the chamber would take a break for the Yom Kippur holiday this week if there is a shutdown but then return to Washington and vote through the weekend.

If the president was seeking to curry Democratic votes, it wasn’t immediately apparent. Trump, who last week canceled a planned sit-down with Democratic leaders, on Monday evening posted a poorly dubbed video on social media of Schumer and Jeffries, set to mariachi music, suggesting the pair wanted to import new voters who “can’t even speak English.”

Schumer sniped back that the president is “trolling away on the internet like a 10-year-old.” Jeffries called the depiction of him in a sombrero “racist” and dared Trump to insult him to his face.

Trump ally Sean Hannity, on Fox News, suggested to Johnson that there was no chance Trump would give into any of the Democrats’ demands, and Johnson agreed. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Democrats cheered party leaders in a closed-door meeting Monday evening that appeared to rally the troops.

Exit ramps

A shutdown would be the first since 2018-2019, when funding for the government lapsed for five weeks, including over New Year’s Day, during Trump’s first term.

Although Republicans control both chambers of Congress — as well as the White House — they appear to need the support of at least seven more Senate Democrats to clear procedural hurdles and pass a funding bill.

One possible path being discussed late Monday involves a potential compromise that would extend health-care tax credits but phase down the amounts in the second and third year.

GOP lawmakers expressed confidence that, even if the government shut down briefly, Democrats would eventually yield.

“A 600-pound man is more likely to pass up a donut than the Democrats are to shut down the government for any length of time, because they love the government as much as a 600-pound man loves a donut,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina.

Graham said he expected a “brief” shutdown while Republicans and Democrats find “common ground.” He pointed out that Republicans have previously tried to use shutdowns to extract policy concessions, only to eventually give up and fund the government without getting anything in return.

“It may be popular, but shutting the government down is not the answer to popular legislation,” Graham said. “I’ve learned that the hard way.”

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With assistance from Zach C. Cohen, Maeve Sheehey, Steven T. Dennis, Hadriana Lowenkron, Gregory Korte, Erik Wasson and Adrienne Tong.

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